1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inductor element as a base part for configuring an electric/electronic circuit, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the advancement in the weight lightening and the multi-functionality in the mobile devices such as a cellular phone, the mobile devices become an indispensable tool for daily life. As a consequence, electric/electronic parts constituting the mobile device are under developing, with aiming at enhancing the response speed, minimizing the size, thinning the thickness, and saving the energy more as a main technical theme. This phenomenon is also applicable to the inductor as one of the fundamental parts for the mobile devices, which ranks with the resistor and the capacitor.
Examples of the related art regarding the inductor include JP-A-2001-167930, and JP-A-2004-253684 and Japanese Patent No. 3662749. JP-A-2001-167930 discloses an inexpensive inductor coil that allows a large current to flow therethrough and has a large sectional area. This inductor coil is a developed one of the conventional wound inductors, which is manufactured by a method of laminating metal conductive plates into a spiral shape in place of winding wire so as to reduce a wiring resistance.
Further, JP-A-2004-253684 proposes a high-density inductor. This high-density inductor increases a longitudinal sectional area of the coil to reduce a wiring resistance and repeating a photo-etching step and a plating deposition step to laminate wiring layers to attain a high-density coil structure. Further, Japanese Patent No. 3662749 proposes a method of manufacturing a laminate inductor, which involves forming spiral coil patterns and through-holes on a ceramic green sheet by screen printing and then laminating the patterns one on top of the other, followed by a backing to complete an inductor element.